Greens glare at Telecommunications bill: “track and tap” bill to enable authorities to conduct real time tracking of people’s mobile phones and Internet browsing without obtaining a warrant

Greens Senator Kerry Nettle (New South Wales) told the Senate on 20 September 2007 that the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Amendment Bill 2007 was a threat to privacy and civil rights.

Brave new world as big brother grows: “The secret surveillance of citizens by state authorities is a common theme in drama and fiction. From Shakespeare to today’s Hollywood films – such as the Jason Bourne trilogy – the fear of an all powerful state spying and trampling on people’s rights has popular resonance. And it has popular resonance for a reason. The overbearing power of the state to interfere and punish is a real problem of contemporary life across the globe. Arbitrary and administrative imprisonment, the removal of the right to silence, suppression of freedom of expression and encroachments on the right to privacy are growing across the Western world”.

Greens appalled as privacy mauled: “The horrible irony is that it was precisely these problems that modern liberalism sought to address by seeking a balance between the rights of individuals and the powers of the state. But it is this balance, often under the guise of the war on terrorism that has been jettisoned by neo- conservatives such as the Liberal Party and the Howard government. This bill, the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Amendment Bill 2007 is the latest manifestation of this process and it is a major threat to privacy and civil rights. This “track and tap” bill will enable police and security agencies such as ASIO to conduct real time tracking of people’s mobile phones and Internet browsing without obtaining a warrant”.